Mother Cabrini's Shrine: A Pictorial Essay

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Below pasted are a few photographs from our visit earlier today to the Mother Cabrini Shrine at 701 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, New York. We were very blessed to have been able to visit on her feast day today. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was very good to us. She found us a parking spot right in front of her Shrine, something that was most unexpected on a busy upper Manhattan street.

This sarcophagus of Mother Cabrini is moulded over the actual remains of her mortal body below the neck. The saint's actual head is on display in Rome, Italy. We were told by a volunteer tour guide that Mother Cabrini's mortal remains are not incorrupt. However, there is still skill over some of her bones, which themselves are strong and show no sign of decay.

A depiction of Pope Leo XIII sending Mother Cabrini of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the United States of America rather than to China as she had longed to go since her childhood.

Mother Cabrini was to go to the west, not to the east.

The flight of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini to Heaven. She died ninety years ago this very day, that is, on December 22, 1917.

A Crucifix behind the altar where the mortal remains of Mother Cabrini rests in the crystal reliquary shown in the first photograph above.

Rosaries and their matching "heart" cases, one for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the other for the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

A gift from one saint to another. Pope Saint Pius X's biretta and paten, given to Mother Cabrini.

Mother Cabrini's hairbrushes (and other items).

An instrument of penance worn by Mother Cabrini. I'm not quite there yet, thank you. What a love of God and a desire to do penance for sinners was possessed by Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini!

Lucy venerating a relic of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini. The volunteer at the Mother Cabrini Shrine asked Lucy, outside of my own earshot (and that of Sharon's as well), what she wanted for Christmas. Lucy replied: "The grace to be a saint." We were told this by a friend who heard it and by the volunteer herself. Tears come to my eyes even thinking about this. Our dear daughter has much to improve in her comportment at times. So do we all, of course, if we are honest with ourselves. At least she recognizes at her young age what she must do in life: to become a saint. She is a good little girl for whom we are so very grateful.

A statue of the Infant of Prague at the Mother Cabrini Shrine.

A most beautiful statue of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.

A close-up of the statue of this courageous, indefatigable missionary of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima at the Mother Cabrini Shrine. The Miracle of the Sun took place two months, four days before Mother Cabrini's death.

A statue of the Hammer of Heretics, Saint Anthony of Padua.

A statue of Our Lord and His Most Sacred Heart.

A photograph Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini as a child with her pet dog.

Two photographs of the great saint who strove to fortify Italian immigrants in their Faith in the midst of a culture of pluralism and religious indifferentism.

A close-up of one of the photographs in the previous picture.

Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, pray for us!

All to thee, Blessed Mother. All to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you. Save souls!